


Fridge Magnets

by Paladins_Grace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Gen, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Team Bonding, keith is a scheming mastermind, shiro's arm is magnetic, the team has shenanigans, the team tries to get shiro to have fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-10-17 19:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17567024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paladins_Grace/pseuds/Paladins_Grace
Summary: The team has a little surprise for Shiro. Well, multiple little surprises. Shiro keeps finding them in an odd place.





	1. Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> Another gift for Shiro-mun<3
> 
> Now complete /and/ edited! HUGE thanks to my beta reader @braincoins - I really appreciate your input on this.
> 
> ~ Hunk-mun

Shiro regained consciousness with a small start. He hadn’t been having a nightmare, and the lights in the room were just dim enough to sleep, so why had he woken up? At first glance he didn’t recognize his surroundings - the room was much bigger than anything he was used to - and there was weight on his limbs, pinning him down. His breath started to come a little quicker as he started looking for an exit --

Then Keith shifted against his side again. Right, they had all been watching a movie together in the lounge. His pseudo-brother was pressed against his right side, curled up against his torso, and his shifting must have been what woke him up. Hunk was snoring quietly to his left, with Pidge using Shiro’s arm as a pillow and Hunk’s bulk as a heater. Lance was sprawled over their legs - clearly he had originally been between Hunk and Shiro, but in his sleep he must have spread out.

Shiro listened to their somewhat-quiet breathing for a few minutes before slowly and carefully extricating his limbs from his fellow paladins. It was tricky business, as Lance rolled over partway through and stretched half-heartedly, which made Pidge curl up tighter, which made Hunk make a whuffling noise. Shiro held his breath, coiled like a spring, waiting for them all to settle back down before continuing with his escape.

It wasn’t that Shiro needed to _escape_ , per se, it was more like….he needed an out. He shouldn’t have let himself fall asleep during the movie in the first place. What if he had had a nightmare and woke up thrashing? Or worse, what if he had woken up and thought his friends were threats? He shuddered silently at the thought. He needed some space - clear his head a bit, make sure he wasn’t going to accidentally hurt someone. He couldn’t risk it again.

Eventually, finally, he was free of the limbs and torsos. Nobody had woken up. Shiro gave himself a small smile of congratulation as he nabbed a spare blanket and headed for the door. Once he reached the hallway, he swung the blanket around his shoulders to make a sort of cape, only for a glint of metal to his right to catch his eye.

Well, yes, his entire _arm_ was metal, but this was a _new_ glint on his arm. It wasn’t normally there. Shiro let the blanket slide off of his right side, forgotten, as he twisted his arm to get a better look at the offending intruder.

It was a fridge magnet.

Of course, of _course_ his arm was magnetic enough for fridge magnets to stick to it. Shiro chuckled dryly to himself, plucking the magnet off and holding it up to examine it. It was shaped like the Black Lion’s face - silvery and metal, with the hallway lights glinting softly on the beveled surface. Whoever made it had clearly given attention to the details. The lines were precise, and little accents were carefully painted on. Shiro wondered if someone dredged it up from the depths of the Castle’s storage, or if it was made just for him. Well, no matter. It was still early in the morning; he might as well use this time to prepare today’s training session. He carefully tucked the magnet into his pocket, letting it - and any speculation about it - fade away as he began brainstorming group activities for the paladins.

He forgot about it shortly after that.


	2. Mealtime

“Okay guys, tonight we’ve got _spatinac_ burgers with some crême goo-lée on the side, and green lemonade.” Hunk set some platters laden with food down on the table as the rest of the team clattered around, finding their seats.

  
“Al _right_ Hunk, this looks awesome!” Lance took an appreciative sniff of the food, then eagerly began spooning his portion onto his plate. Keith looked at his green-coloured drink with interest, and Pidge reluctantly set aside her current project - whatever it was - to curiously examine the not-quite-hamburgers.

Shiro waited for the others to settle down before snagging his own food. He held his plate close to the serving dishes with his right hand as he spooned the goo - it looked like it was food goo-based, but it smelled completely different (and it was warm), so Hunk must have cooked something into it - and a pinky-orange burger patty onto his plate.

“We could position a couple gladiators at the edge of the deck to provide covering fire,” Allura speculated from beside Shiro. They’d been discussing training methods earlier, and apparently she wanted to continue the conversation. “Long-range enemies working in tandem with close-combat assailants.”

Shiro set his plate down in front of his seat and pulled his chair in. “Adding new combatants partway through the training session would force the team to multitask and account for new possibilities. I like it.”

Lance groaned through his mouth of patty. “Hunk, they’re talking about training. _Plotting_ our _demise_.” He feigned a swoon, dramatically lifting the back of his hand to his forehead.

“You’re right, we shouldn’t be discussing strategies to not die at the dinner table,” Shiro deadpanned. “I’m sure the Galra will go easy on us.” He reached to pick up his spork and jabbed at his goo -

          - only for the spork to rest at a weird angle in his hand.

Surprised, Shiro looked down at this spork. He was pretty sure he was holding it normally in his right hand, and yet a couple of his fingers just missed the grip. And there, at the joint between his thumb and pointer finger resting underneath the spork’s handle was….a little burst of colour. He set down the spork and examined the spot of colour stuck to his hand.

It was a fridge magnet.

This one was shaped like a flower - like a daisy drawn by a child. It was made from the same material as the lion magnet, but where the lion magnet had been minimalist and streamlined, the daisy was decidedly doodled. The paint was liberally and vibrantly applied to the petals, and Shiro absently wondered if the neon colouring would almost glow in the dark. He stared at it, dumbfounded. How did it even get there?

He belatedly realized that the room had gone quiet. He glanced up to see the others all watching him bemusedly. Lance was hiding a smile behind his hand, and Keith was studying him curiously.

“What?” Shiro asked, trying to make his voice as casual as possible.

“Cute, innit?” Hunk said with a grin.

Shiro looked down at the daisy. “Yeah, it is.” He plucked the magnet from his hand and set it down beside his plate, then studiously began eating his food. The room resumed its babble and chatter as the others also returned to their food. Shiro ignored them, instead further studying the daisy in his peripheral vision as he spooned goo into his mouth.

Allura plucked the magnet from its rest and gently placed it on Shiro’s arm before resuming her own food, and the rest of the meal passed without incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses on who's depositing these magnets? :)


	3. Tag

Footsteps thundered down the hall, and Shiro stepped out of the way as Pidge came barreling around the corner. Her face was red and she was panting for breath, and she glanced over her shoulder without slowing down.

“Pidge - ?” Shiro raised a hand towards her in concern only for Pidge to wave him off.

“He’s coming!” she screeched, already halfway down the hall. Shiro watched her go, perplexed, before hearing a cackle from around the corner. Lance ran into the hall, slowing down marginally at the sight of his leader.

“Shiro! Where did Pidge go?”

“Uh - that way,” Shiro informed, pointing. “Why, what’s going on?”

Lance slowed to a halt. “We’re just playing - a….” He narrowed his eyes at Shiro thoughtfully, a conniving smirk sneaking onto his lips. “Actually….” His hand darted out and tapped Shiro firmly on his right elbow. “Tag! You’re it!” Lance shrieked gleefully before turning and sprinting down the hallway.

Shiro bewilderedly watched him run off. Yeah, this was dumb. There were better ways to use this time. Why were Pidge and Lance even playing tag in the first place? Were the others involved in this?

Whatever. They needed to let loose a little, blow off some steam. He could indulge in this little game. He grinned as he raced after Lance.

The Blue Paladin was lithe and nimble, but Lance didn’t hold a candle to Shiro’s raw power. Shiro quickly overtook him and planted a firm hand on his back, knocking him forward slightly. “Tag!” Lance let out a little burst of air at the impact and Shiro used the distraction to run away.

He aimed for Pidge’s hangar. He was reasonably confident she’d hole up there, hiding from the threat of being “it”. He needed an ally in this game - or, even better, a scapegoat.

“Get back here!” he heard Lance call distantly. Ha! Like he was going to let Lance catch him. He slowed down to a walk and slipped into the Green Lion’s hangar.

“Pidge?” he called. As far as she knew, he wasn’t playing the game. Shiro could be checking in for any reason. Let her think that. Then he’d sacrifice her to Lance and make his getaway.

“Yeah?” Pidge’s face popped out from behind a work table. “What’s up?”

Shiro - very inconspicuously - moseyed over to her. “Just checking in,” he said, careful to keep his tone casual. “Making sure you’re not getting into trouble or anything.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes at him. “Did Lance tag you?”

Wow. That was blunt. Shiro thought he was a better actor than that. “What? No, no - Lance didn’t tag me.” Her eyes narrowed further. “Okay, well, he _did_ tag me but I tagged him back and he’s gonna -”

Shiro was cut off by the squeal of sneakers on the floor and Lance shrieking, “Shiro!” The door to the hangar burst open and Lance pointedly surveyed the space, breathing heavily.

Pidge let out a surprised squawk as Shiro nabbed her wrist and twisted her so that she was standing in front of him, facing Lance. The boy simply advanced with his hands held out placatingly. “You don’t wanna do this, Shiro,” he warned.

Shiro gave him a toothy grin. “You’re right. More than that, though, I don’t want to be ‘it’.” He pushed Pidge towards Lance and spun, aiming for the hangar’s back door. Pidge flailed from the sudden imbalance and grabbed at Shiro’s right arm. At the same moment, instead of attempting to tag Pidge, Lance dove forward and firmly smacked Shiro’s right bicep, consequently colliding with Pidge and causing both of them to tumble to the ground.

Shiro stumbled, slowed by the combined momentum of two paladins on his right arm. Lance used the opportunity to roll back up to his feet, grasping the back of Pidge’s sweater and hauling her up with him. “Go, go, go, go!” he yelled, racing for the door with Pidge in tow.

The Black Paladin turned, recovering his balance. Pidge had recovered her feet, and the two of them were already disappearing through the door. Shiro took a step to follow them before reconsidering - Pidge was likely going to disappear into the air vents, and Lance could probably fit in after her.  

They both had a head start, too. It would be much easier to wait until supper to tag them;  they’d spend the afternoon paranoid and wondering where he was, only for him to swoop in and tag one - or both - of them when they least expect it. Shiro nodded to himself. Yes, this would work. It’d give him time to regroup and assess his tactical strategy, too. Satisfied, he started heading for the door, offhandedly inspecting his arm to make sure nothing got yanked too hard when Pidge and Lance were hanging on it.

Two fridge magnets winked up at him.

One was in the shape of an S, the way elementary school kids usually draw it - with the 6 lines. The other was drawing of the Castleship, in the same style as the Black Lion magnet.

One on his elbow, and one on his bicep. Exactly where Lance had tagged him both times.

With an exasperated sigh, Shiro pulled the magnets off and stuffed them in his pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all know those Ss that kids drew all the time? With the 6 lines as the base?


	4. Mice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to SumKid for commenting and giving me this idea :)

The next morning, he woke up to six fridge magnets stuck on his arm at various intervals.

Four of the magnets were shaped like the mice - one each.

One was drawn to imitate Allura’s crown. The gem even glowed faintly, set in the middle.

The last magnet was doodled after Coran’s moustache.

Shiro pulled them off and added them to his growing collection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's definitely one more chapter, which is probably the last one. I might write a conclusion chapter, so we'll see how that goes.


	5. Lab

“Hey Shiro, if you have some time, can you swing by the lab later?” Pidge asked quietly from beside him at the dinner table as the team ate lunch.

“Sure, what’s up?” he replied.

“It’s about your arm,” she said cautiously, and Shiro immediately tensed up. The thought of anyone poking around in his arm made him beyond uncomfortable, even if it was a friend with whom he’d trust his life. Who’s to say everything would go smoothly? Nobody really knew what was in that arm. It could malfunction and hurt him, or worse, it could hurt _Pidge_ like he hurt Matt and -

He shook his head briefly, clearing that thought like an Etch-a-Sketch before it escalated.

“We wouldn’t be opening it up or anything,” Pidge quickly amended. “Just getting some scans to get a schematic idea. Nothing internal at all.”

Shiro relaxed marginally. “We?”

“Yeah, Coran’d be there too, just as an extra set of hands. Spotting.”

Shiro considered. “And you wouldn’t be opening anything up?”

“Right. Just scanning for a blueprint. As safe as possible.”

“Alright,” he conceded after a moment.

Pidge’s face lit up in a grin. “Sweet! I’ll be ready right away.” She scurried off with her food, probably to go find Coran and drag him to the lab.

Shiro slowly finished his lunch. It was just a simple scan, nothing serious. They wouldn’t be poking around inside and it wouldn’t hurt. Pidge wouldn’t ask him to do this without good reason. Besides, it would probably be better to have a schematic of his arm anyways - that way if he got injured somehow, they’d know how to fix it.

Despite the logical reasoning, Shiro still felt a pit opening in his stomach.

Best to just get it over with. He didn’t think he could finish his goo now - not with this new development. He stood up to bring his half-finished bowl of goo back to the kitchen, not noticing - or caring - about the other team members’ eyes watching him.

 

~~~~~

 

“Pidge?” Shiro called as the Green Lion’s hanger doors opened with a _whoosh_.

“Here!” Pidge’s head popped out from behind a worktable. A robotic chirp sounded from nearby as Rover 2.0 greeted Shiro. When she saw him, she climbed to her feet and moved closer to him, with her robot tagging close behind. “It’s all set up, right here.” She pointed to the table.

Shiro took a closer look at the table. Obviously she and Coran hadn’t had a lot of time to set this up, but it was clear that they put thought into what they did do. The table was covered in a fuzzy blanket - and the chair likewise draped in a blanket and pillows - and the lighting in the whole room had been adjusted to feel less sterile and more homey. The giant, hulking presence of a Lion of Voltron also served as a reminder that he wasn’t in one of _her_ labs. Despite the fact that he was very obviously no longer in captivity, the feelings of dread and pain sprung to mind, unbidden, and he shivered.

Rover trilled at him again. He brought his eyes back into focus to see Pidge watching him hesitantly. “We did try to make it...y’know, different, but we don’t have to do this if you aren’t comfortable.”

“No. It’s fine. These scans would be good to have,” Shiro replied immediately. Pidge eyed him warily, but didn’t protest.

Rover nudged at his right arm, pushing him in the direction of the table. “Coran’s just grabbing the scanners,” Pidge explained. “He’ll be here pretty quick.”

Forcing his breaths to be steady ( _betray nothing, Takashi_ ), Shiro sat down on the (very soft, actually) chair. He impulsively patted Rover, who twittered happily at him. A moment later, the doors glided open and Coran entered with a couple handheld scanners. “I’ve got the - ah, number one, you’re here. We should be good to go, then.”

Pidge nodded, taking the scanners from Coran and linking them up to her laptop. “Yep. Rover’s just gonna get some preliminary scans, okay, Shiro? Go ahead, buddy.”

The robot chirped, then ducked underneath Shiro’s arm, trying to push it up. Shiro obediently placed his hand on the table, and Rover repositioned itself at a vantage point. A soft blue light emitted from its eye, dancing over Shiro’s arm. A few moments later, it dinged, and Pidge began typing something on her computer.

Rover continued to hover, and Pidge moved over to Shiro. “Okay, next step. Is it okay if I touch your arm to reposition it and stuff?” she asked gingerly. Shiro nodded once stiffly, closing his eyes. He was suddenly very glad that Pidge couldn’t see his hand clenched into a fist - he had quickly concealed it with the blanket covering the table - but his stiff body language and his closed eyes probably still gave him away. She seemed to be receptive to that, though, and she moved quickly, flitting from task to task. She held the small scanner about a half a foot away from Shiro’s arm, gently nudging his arm when she needed. The laptop beeped occasionally.

As she scanned, Pidge kept up a steady stream of babbling speech - Shiro couldn’t bring himself to focus on what she was saying, although she said Lance’s name in an exasperated tone many times - but he was grateful for it all the same. It was another reminder that he was safe and with friends. He let her speech wash over him, a smooth wave to keep him in the present. It lapped around him, punctuated occasionally by small touches that he felt around his wrist and forearm.

Eventually, her voice picked up and Shiro felt some firmer taps on his wrist, almost like - right, Pidge was there. She probably wanted his attention now. Shiro opened his eyes to find her looking at him.

“All done, Shiro. I’m just gonna double-check that everything got uploaded properly, but you don’t have to stay for that if you don’t want. Coran just left to go help Hunk with supper,” she added with a wince.

Shiro nodded. “Thanks, Pidge.” She scurried over to her laptop and started tapping away. Taking a deep breath and collecting his thoughts, Shiro looked down at his arm and turned it back and forth to reassure himself that everything was in working order.

His arm was absolutely covered in small, constellation-shaped magnets.

“Uh, Pidge?”

“Mm?”

“What’s _this_ doing here?” He plucked off a magnet depicting the Big Dipper and held it up for her to see.

She glanced up from her computer, only to promptly blanch and slam the screen down. “I don’t know anything about that seeyouatsupper _bye_!” She grabbed her laptop and sprinted from the room.

Shiro watched her fairly fly from the room. She _definitely_ knew what was going on with the magnets. Had she masterminded the whole thing? No, she would have been acting strange before this - it had been almost a whole week since he found the first magnet on his arm.

He pondered the strange occurrences of the magnets as he headed back to his room. The last time he had discovered magnets on his arm was when he woke up a few days ago to find magnets littered on his arm - clearly representing the Altean parties on board. He would have woken up if anyone opened his door in the middle of the night, so he was pretty sure the mice had snuck in through the vents and deposited the magnets on him as he slept.

Or before that, when he got roped into that game of tag with Pidge and Lance - although he only found magnets on his arm where he was tagged, and Pidge had never tagged him - just...Lance…

Or before _that_ , when a magnet got stuck to his hand without him noticing. Nobody had touched him that time - the only thing that had come into contact with his right side at all before that was his dinner plate, and _Hunk_ had been the one to bring out the dishes...wait.

Groaning, he plunked himself down on his bed and buried his head in his hands. They had all been in on this. Well, maybe not Keith. Keith wouldn’t fall for peer pressure like this. But he also would have told Shiro if the others were scheming about something, and he _didn’t_ say anything, so maybe...just maybe….

He pulled off all of the constellation- and robot-shaped magnets one by one and dropped them into his growing pile - easily doubling his collection. Shiro stared down at the accumulation of metal. His team loved him, no doubt. They knew he was uncomfortable with the arm - a foreign hunk of metal grafted to his skin by a violent alien witch - and even though it definitely benefited the team, they knew he hated it. These magnets were so... _them_. Familial. Personal. Warm.

Home.

They did this because they loved him.

Shiro didn’t let himself cry, but he came close. Once he made sure his emotions were under control, he carefully put all of the magnets back on his arm and continued about his business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM SOME REVEAL.
> 
> Yes Rover 2.0 did deposit its own magnets when it was guiding Shiro too.
> 
> Next chapter is the last one!
> 
> Edit: okay so somehow i accidentally copied in a paragraph twice instead of copying in the right paragraph so THAT'S fixed now


	6. Shiro

Hunk’s eyes absolutely lit up when Shiro stepped into the dining room with the magnets on his arm. He elbowed Lance repeatedly, who let out a delighted whoop with his arms raised high once Hunk not-so-subtly pointed to the body decorations.

“Lance, shush, I’m trying to...” Pidge groused from behind her laptop screen as she glanced up at the intrusion. Her sentence trailed off as she took in the magnets, giving Shiro a grateful smile before diving back into her project.

Allura walked in behind him, and the mice’s excited chittering from their perches on her shoulders was clearly audible. The princess paused and peacefully adjusted the tiara magnet on his arm before continuing on and taking her seat at the table. Coran stepped in bearing plates of food, and Hunk quickly dashed out to get the rest as Pidge set her laptop aside with an impatient sigh.

Keith slipped into his own seat, and the food was quickly dished out. Silence reigned for a few moments as everyone started eating.

“So. I’ve been noticing an increase in magnets around here,” Shiro said, breaking the quiet.

Everyone suddenly became very focused on their own food.

“They seem to keep congregating on my arm,” he continued. “You guys wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Everyone because _extremely_ focused on their food.

“Because...I like them. They’re fun. Thank you. But I gotta know...whose idea was this?”

There was a pause, and then Shiro startled as Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Coran burst into chatter around him. The sudden noise was, quite frankly, a little overwhelming, and he had no hope of parsing what anyone was saying right now.

  
He _did_ notice, though, the way Keith smiled into his food, perfectly content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaand...that's a wrap! Thanks for reading, everyone!


End file.
